Posted in Whathaveyou on December 29th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
It’s entirely possible that by the time they get the pre-production finished, start and complete a recording process, mix, master, press up the inevitable vinyl and secure a proper release, Snailking will be a full four years out from having issued their second full-length in the form of 2014’s Storm (review here). That record was the Jönköping, Sweden-based cosmic doom trio’s follow-up to 2012’s Samsara (review here) and their debut on Consouling Sounds, and while it’s unclear at this time if the same label will stand behind the new offering, it should be interesting to hear what the YOB-influenced outfit have come up with this time around, since in the time since Storm guitarist/vocalist Pontus Ottosson has completely revamped the rhythm section behind him.
Now comprised of Ottoson, drummer Olle Svahn (who takes the place of Karl Jonas Wijk) and bassist Anton Eng (come aboard for Frans Levin), Snailking are marking the start of what could easily be a new era for the band by kissing the old one goodbye via making Storm and Samsara as well as the 2014 Live at the Kinky Star Club available from Bandcamp in name-your-price fashion, hoping to entice listeners and build funds up for the impending studio time. If you didn’t hear it, Stormis worth the price of admission for the 17-minute roll of “Requiem” alone, never mind the more aggro take of songs like “Premonitions” and “To Wander,” but whatever your poison, there’s plenty of space-sludge to go around.
They put word out like so:
Finally some good news, Snailking is currently doing pre-production for our next full-length album! We feel like this calls for some kind of celebration so we’re giving away both our previous albums for free on our Bandcamp. We’re also doing a sale where you can find cheap t-shirts and CDs, all sales goes to financing the recording of the next album.
Snailking is: Olle Svahn – Drums Anton Eng – Bass Pontus Ottosson – Guitar & Vocals
Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 11th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
Ufomammut, Snailking (2004)
[Please note: While I’m using a YouTube embed above because that’s the habit for these posts, Snailking is available direct from Ufomammut on Bandcamp here.]
Admittedly, it’s been a while since I pulled out Ufomammut‘s Snailking and gave it a go. Nothing — quite literally, nothing — against the Italian trio’s groundbreaking 2004 sophomore LP, but it’s not exactly like they never released anything afterwards. This year’s Ecate (review here), for example, would be bound to keep any Ufomammut fan occupied for a span, and I still feel like there’s more digging to be done before I’d be willing to say I thought the prior single-album-broken-into-two-releases Oro (review here and review here) had given up all its secrets. Snailking (previously discussed here) was the record that got me into Ufomammut. An underheralded US release came via shortlived imprint The Music Cartel, and while the band has followed that up with reissues in 2009 and 2011 through their own Supernatural Cat label, it’s still easy to label Snailking as something of a lost/would-be classic both for what it accomplished in itself and what it enabled Ufomammut to do afterwards.
The album itself is an absolute monster. At eight tracks/68 minutes, it feels almost insurmountable, but 28-minute closer “Demontain” doesn’t use all of its runtime. That song does underscore one of the key points that would later become essential to experiencing Ufomammut‘s work, however, and that is that it’s as much about the weight of the atmosphere the band creates as it is about the density of riffs or impact of grooves. Listening back to Snailking some 11 years after the fact, a song like “Odio” feels raw in comparison to a lot of what the trio have done since, but it’s important to keep in mind that even in their use of samples and synths to go with their sludgy riffing, Ufomammut were beginning the experiments that would become what we now think of today as cosmic doom in large part because of how they crafted it. The sometimes abrasive noise of “Alcool” and the rumble/explosion tradeoff of the earlier “Hopscotch” are the foundation points for Ufomammut‘s contributions to this aesthetic, and their roots in the likes of Neurosis and Sleep put them right in line with Oregon’s YOB, who are probably the only other band whose work has been so influential in the same sphere.
But it’s important to remember that Ufomammut are still writing their story, and that this album, which arrived four years after their 2000 debut, Godlike Snake, is but a pivotal chapter among several from the band. What they’d go on to do on records like 2008’s Idolum and 2010’s Eve (review here), their work in and with the Malleus art collective and their growth as a sustainable touring act has helped make them one of the finest groups of their generation, and while Snailking isn’t as expansive as what came after, it is in many ways a nexus point from which that Big Bang emanated.
Hope you enjoy.
—
I’m closing out the week early-ish on account of the fact that I’m interviewing Lori S. from Acid King at 4:30 (Eastern) and figure that’s as good a way to actually round out my day as anything else I can come up with. It was originally supposed to happen yesterday, the interview, but work stuff came up, as will apparently happen when one is gainfully employed.
…Sorry, had to stop for a couple seconds there and explore “gainful” in my head.
Might just have the Lorinterview (because portmanteau, that’s why!) up before next week is out, but if not definitely the week after since assuming everything goes to plan with the call we’ll be talking about the upcoming tour and it wouldn’t do to have the feature go up if the tour’s half over. We’re already almost halfway through September. Never mind July or August. What happened to June?
The last two weeks being four days at work helped, and having this past weekend to run down to Maryland for the Vultures of Volume II fest was huge for me. Thanks to everyone who got to check out either day’s review. I don’t think I did myself any favors with the second one being so long — I imagine most people who bothered to click in the first place either skimmed through one or two bands or just didn’t read it at all — but there was a lot to say. One day, 13 bands. That’s a lot to cover. Anyway, if you put eyes on any of it, thank you.
Next week, in addition to that interview (hopefully), look out for a track premiere on Monday from He Whose Ox is Gored and a review/full-stream on Tuesday from Leeches of Lore. Might try to review the new Windhand as well before the week is up. We’ll see how I wind up for time.
Thanks to everyone for reading this week, and please have a great and safe weekend. Please check out the forum and the radio stream.
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 3rd, 2015 by JJ Koczan
Swedish twofer Galvano will hit the road next month across Western Europe in support of their earlier-2015 release, Trail of the Serpent, which is also their debut on Candlelight Records. They’re joined for the trek by their countrymen in Snailking and Canada’s Zaum, who I hear will have a new record out in 2016, which is surely good news for anyone who likes their heavy with a bit of ritual behind it. Which I think is just about everybody at this point. Or, at very least, me. Ha.
It’s a more than solid bill, though, with the three bands, and they’ll meet up with the likes of Pentagram and Graveyard along the way as well, so all the better. Dates and background on Trail of the Serpent follow, as well as the stream of the album, all courtesy of the PR wire:
We are hitting Europe again in November, this time with our friends in Snailking and ZAUM. Excited to return to France, this time sharing stage with the mighty Pentagram! Hope to see you out there! Go like these killer bands and share this poster. Thank you.
Galvano on Tour with Snailking and Zaum 11.13 Stengade Copenhagen DK 11.14 Astrastube Hamburg DE 11.15 TBC Rouen FR 11.17 Ferrailleur Nantes FR* 11.18 Little Devil Tilburg NL 11.19 De Onderbroek Nijmegen NL 11.20 Music City Antwerp BE 11.21 Brixton Windmill London UK 11.23 TBC Leipzig DE 11.24 Chemiefabrik Dresden DE 11.25 Alte Meierei Kiel DE 11.26 Schokoladen Berlin DE 11.27 1000Fryd Aalborg DK 11.28 Vulkan Arena Oslo NO** *with Pentagram **with Graveyard
From the deepest, nastiest recesses of Gothenburg comes crushing Swedish sludge duo Galvano. Now comprising Mattias Noojd (guitars/vocals) and Fredrik Kall (drums), Galvano originally started out as a three-piece in 2005.
Galvano embarked on their first mini tour in 2010 visiting Denmark and a set of German cities. That same year the band were asked to feature on a split so they went into the studio and recorded the epic single The Librarian which was mixed and mastered by the legendary Billy Anderson (Orange Goblin, Cathedral, Eyehategod).
This was released as a 10 in 2011 on SM Musik from Leipzig, Germany. The release was then followed up by a full European tour. After this tour the band said goodbye to their fourth bass player and decided to move on as a duo. Early in 2012 they teamed up with UK based label Devouter Records for the release of their debut full-length album Two Titans. The album was released on December 5th and was very well received by both fans and media.
Since then the band has played over 35 shows during several European tours including UK and Ireland. In January 2015, Galvano signed with Candlelight Records.
Posted in Reviews on December 30th, 2014 by JJ Koczan
Happy to report that I survived the first day of this project. Spirits are good and I look at the stack of discs (plus one book; we’ll get there) in front of me and feel relatively confident that by the time I’m through it, my cerebral cortex will still manage to function in the limited way it usually does. If yesterday’s installment is anything to go by, however, I’ll be well out of adjectives by then. What’s another word for “heavy?”
There’s only one way to find out. These will be reviews 11-20 of the total 50. I don’t know if they say the first 10 are the hardest or the last, but I’ll be in the thick of it when this is posted and while I’m sure I probably could turn back and catch minimal if any flack for it — one “Hey wha happen?” on Thee Facebooks seems likely penance — better to just keep going. Another stack awaits tomorrow, after all.
Thanks in advance to anyone reading:
Nate Hall, Electric Vacuum Roar
Electric Vacuum Roar is one of two Nate Hall physical releases from this fall. The U.S. Christmas frontman and solo performer also has a few digital odds and ends and Fear of Falling, on which he partners with a rhythm section. Released by Heart and Crossbone Records and Domestic Genocide, Electric Vacuum Roar is closer to a solo affair. Hall is joined by Caustic Resin’s Brett Netson on guitar/bass on two extended tracks: “Dance of the Prophet” (16:46) and “Long Howling Decline/People Fall Down” (11:57). The second part of the latter is a reinterpretation of a Caustic Resin song, though here it is droned out and put through a portal of drumless and inward-looking psychedelia, turned into the finale of a communicative and intimate affair. Amp noise and effects swirl around “Dance of the Prophet,” and it’s easy to get lost in it, but Hall maintains a steady presence of obscure vocals and the result is what tribal might be if tribes were comprised of one person.
I’ve never tried to break up a one-man band, but I can’t imagine Scott Conner – who helped pave the way for US black metal under the moniker Malefic in Xasthur – has had an easy time of it since he put that band to bed in 2010. Nocturnal Poisoning, whose Doomgass arrives via The End Records, is an entirely different beast. Centered around layers folkish acoustic guitar, cleanly produced backed by occasional bass and tambourine, Doomgrass is still depressive at its core – Robert N. contributes guest vocals, almost gothic in style, to songs like “Starstruck by Garbage” and “Illusion of Worth” – but if the name is a portmanteau of doom and bluegrass, it fits the style. If anything ties Nocturnal Poisoning to Xasthur aside from Conner’s involvement, it’s a focus on atmosphere, but the two ultimately have little in common otherwise, and Nocturnal Poisoning’s exploratory feel is refreshingly individualized and leaves one wondering if Conner will be able to resist the full-band-sound impulse going forward.
Though they’re decidedly post-metal in their influences – Neurosis, YOB, obviously Ufomammut for whose record they are named – Sweden’s Snailking keep to heavy rock tones on their Consouling Sounds debut full-length, Storm, and that greatly bolsters the album’s personality. Even as they lumber, the riffs of 11-minute opener “To Wander” are fuzzed-out, and that remains true throughout the five mostly-extended cuts the trio of drummer Olle Svahn, bassist Frans Levin and guitarist/vocalist Pontus Ottosson present on their first record, which follows the 2012 demo, Samsara (review here). Centerpiece “Slithering” is the shortest and most churning of the bunch at 6:32, but the particularly YOBian “Requiem” underscores another value greatly working in Storm’s favor – the patience with which Snailking present the ambience of their pieces. That will serve them well as they continue to distinguish themselves from their forebears, but for now, Storm makes a welcome opening salvo from the three-piece highlighting both their potential and how far they’ve come already since the release of their demo.
The self-titled debut from thoroughly-bearded Brooklynite four-piece Godmaker arrives via Aqualamb as an art-book and download, a full 96 pages of designs, lyrics to the four included tracks of the vinyl-ready 32-minute long-player, live shots from a variety of sources, bizarre geometry and odd etchings feeding the atmosphere of the songs themselves, somewhere between sludge, thrash and aggressive noise with scream-topped moments of doom like “Shallow Points.” Comprised of guitarist/vocalists Pete Ross and Chris Strait, bassist Andrew Archey and drummer Jon Lane, Godmaker fluidly shifts between the various styles at work in their sound, whether it’s the explosion at the end of “Shallow Points” or that beginning the rush of opener “Megalith,” and while their self-titled is a dense listen, with the surprising post-hardcore take of “Desk Murder” and the check-out-this-badass-riff-now-we’re-going-to-smash-your-face-with-it 11-minute metallic closer “Faded Glory,” it efficiently satisfies. More so after a couple listens front to back. If Godmaker were breaking your bones, it would be a clean break, and yes, that’s a compliment to their attack.
Supersound is the first full-length from Italian heavy psych rockers Void Generator since 2010’s Phantom Hell and Soar Angelic (review here), and where that album held three extended pieces, the latest and third overall breaks into smaller pieces. Some of those are extended – opener “Behind My Door” is 8:09 and “Master of the Skies” tops nine minutes – but the bulk of Supersound’s seven tracks is shorter works somewhere between desert rock and classic psych, guitarist Gianmarco Iantaffi leading the four-piece with a more subdued vocal approach than last time out, compressed even in the rowdier verses of “What are You Doin’” (written by Sandro Chiesa), on which the keys of Enrico Cosimi feature heavily and add to the sound too crisp to be totally retro but still vehemently organic. Bassist Sonia Caporossi (also acoustic guitar on penultimate interlude “Universal Winter”) and drummer Marco Cenci hold together the fluid grooves as Void Generator follows these varied impulses, and Supersound proves cohesive and no less broadly scoped than its predecessor.
There’s a version of The Mound Builders’ 17-minute Wabash War Machine EP from Failure Records and Tapes that includes a comic book, but even the regular sleeve CD edition gives a glimpse at the Lafayette, Indiana, five-piece’s heavy Southern metal push. The middle two of the four inclusions, “Sport of Crows” and “Bar Room Queen,” surfaced earlier this year on a split tape with Bo Jackson 5 (review here), but opener “Wabash War Machine” and the sludged-up closer “The Mound” on which the guitars of Brian Boszor and “Ninja” Nate Malher phase between channels and vocalist Jim Voelz delivers his harshest performance to date, are brand new, albeit recorded at the same sessions in July 2013. “Wabash War Machine” highlights the band’s blend of southern metal and heavy groove, guitar intricacy and a gang-shout chorus meeting thick rollout from bassist Robert Ryan Strawsma and drummer Jason “Dinger” Brookhart, but it’s the finale that’s the EP’s most lasting impression, as pummeling as The Mound Builders have gotten to date.
In Olof’s buzzsaw guitar tone, the thud of Karl’s drums and Gidon’s abiding vocal menace, “Strike of the Emperor” gives notice of some Celtic Frost influence, but that’s hardly the whole tale when it comes Stockholm trio Mother Kasabian’s self-titled, self-released debut EP, as “The Black Satanic Witch of Saturn” immediately calls to mind The Doors in its minimal, spacious verse and offsets this with a soulful classic heavy rock chorus en route to the seven-minute “Close of Kaddish,” which works in a similar pattern – hitting notes of Trouble-style doom in its crescendos – and offers Mother Kasabian’s widest ranging moment ahead of the swaggering closer “The Return of the Mighty King and His Cosmic Elephants.” Swinging drums and variety in Gidon’s The Crazy World of Arthur Brown-style approach give the EP a distinguished feel despite raw production and it being Mother Kasabian’s first outing, and with the psych touches in the finale and a generally unhinged vibe throughout, the trio showcase considerable potential at work.
Active since 2011 and with two prior full-lengths – 2012’s I (review here) and 2013’s II (review here) – under their belt, Oulu, Finland, heavy psych trio Deep Space Destructors offer their definitive stylistic statement in the wash of III, a five-song/45-minute cosmic excursion with progressive krautrock edge (see “Spaceship Earth”) driven into heavier territory through dense fuzz in guitarist Petri Lassila’s tone and the chemistry between he, vocalist/bassist Jani Pitkänen and drummer Markus Pitkänen. Their extended but plotted jammy course finds culmination in the 15-minute penultimate cut “An Ode to Indifferent Universe,” – King Crimson and Floyd laced together by synth sounds – but the space-rock thrust of closer “Ikuinen Alku” highlights the multifaceted approach Deep Space Destructors have developed since their inception, consistently psychedelic but expansive. The sides gel effectively on “Cosmic Burial,” lending modern crash and tonal heft to classic ideals to craft something new from them in admirable form. As far out as they’ve gone, Deep Space Destructors still seem to be exploring new ground.
Released as a cooperative production between Garage Records and Go Down Records, Italian trio Underdogs’ second, self-titled LP pushes further along the straight-lined course of heavy rock their 2007 debut, Ready to Burn, and 2011’s Revolution Love (review here) charted. Songs like “Nothing but the Best” strip away the Queens of the Stone Age-style fuzz of past outings in favor of a cleaner tone and overall feel, and while that spirit shows up later on side B’s “Called Play” and the rumbling grunge of “My Favourite Game” (a cover of The Cardigans), the prevailing vibe speaks to European commercial viability with clear hooks and straightforward structures. Acoustic finale “The Closing Song” offers a last-minute shift in style, calling to mind Underdogs’ Dogs without Plugs digital release, but even in more barebones form, the songwriting remains the focus on this mature third offering from a three-piece who’ve clearly figured out the direction in which they want to head and have set about developing an audience-friendly sound.
Since they issued their self-titled debut (review here) in 2012, Virginia’s Human Services have brought aboard Steve Kerchner of Lord, and he brings as much a sense of chaos to Animal Fires as one might expect in teaming with Jeff Liscombe, Sean Sanford, Don Piffalo and Billy Kurilko, though the 59-minute full-length isn’t without its structure. Longer songs pair with concise noise experiments throughout the first 10 of the total 13 tracks, and each is different, so that even as the gap between songs is bridged, the stylistic basis for Animal Fires is branched out. The result is that by the time “Onyedinci Yil Sürüsü” closes out the album proper before the 17-minute live inclusion “No Structures in the Eye of the Jungle” hits, Human Services have reimagined the modus of Godflesh as an extremity of organic noisemaking, Southern heavy and eerie progressivism. Shades of Neurosis show up in centerpiece “Rats of a Feather,” but they too are twisted to suit the band’s creative purposes, threatening and engagingly bleak.
Posted in audiObelisk on September 1st, 2014 by JJ Koczan
Swedish trio Snailking will release their new album, Storm, Sept. 15 through Belgian imprint Consouling Sounds. It is their second offering behind a well-received 2012 demo/LP, Samsara (review here), and greatly widens the scope from that offering, holding onto some of the cosmic doom sensibility showed then but adding an almost Godfleshy timekeeping stomp to the drums of Karl Jonas Wijk on songs like “Premonitions” and burying guitarist Pontus Ottosson‘s vocals deep within his and bassist Frans Levin‘s collective glug of tone so that he seems to be shouting like he’s trapped underneath his own band’s cacophony.
Three of the five tracks on Storm top 10 minutes long, including the opening duo of “To Wonder” (11:03) and “Premonitions” (10:57), so it’s clear Snailking are still going for an expansive sound. As one might expect, they owe a bit of a debt to their namesake Ufomammut, from whose 2004 landmark LP they take their name, but more than on Samsara, Snailking establish themselves on Storm as a progressive unit engaged in their own evolutionary process. The onslaught of “To Wonder” and “Premonitions” isn’t to be understated — it is a doomed psychedelia to which they’re committed, even in the quiet reaches of the second cut — but the shorter “Slithering” (6:32) introduces a post-metallic feel to the well-bearded three-piece’s lumbering groove, less indebted to YOB than was their last time out, but still showcasing a touch of that churning in its riffs.
Primarily, what Snailking do well on Storm is create a sense of the space in which the album unfolds, and in terms of individual pieces, it’s almost inevitable they’d do it best on “Requiem,” the longest song here at 16:57. In the YOB tradition, it begins with minimal, slow-weaving effects-laden guitar and gradually unveils its full push over the first several minutes, a slow rollout of doomed gravity that will encompass the remainder of the runtime. Hypnotic for its repetition, but crushing, its distinction comes through low, atmospherically mixed growls, screams and shouts, as much black metal as Neurosis, that serve to remind the listener that somewhere in this morass of chest-vibrating low end there is in fact a human presence. If you’re not too quickly swallowed by “Requiem” and can keep your consciousness about you, it is a stirring highlight for Storm and a moment where Snailking‘s plod is most their own.
The closer, “Void” (8:00), holds to some of this same mentality, beginning quiet and ambient before moving into a dense sonic pummel, but as Snailking finish out, Ottosson leaves out vocals and substitutes an extended, drawn-out solo instead, lending the finale a dirge-type feel, less thunderous than “Requiem” before it but all the more mournful in a European doom tradition. That lead holds firm as the other elements crash to a finish, and it as a couple seconds of feedback stumble Stormto its end, they serve as a reminder of how early into the band’s development they actually are — with the confidence of their delivery and the wide ranging feel both sides of the album present, it’s easy to forget. If this is just the beginning, then even better, since as much as Stormworks to create its own space, so too do Snailking set themselves up to be that space’s sole inhabitants, working toward an individual approach that one hopes they’ll continue to forge going forward.
I have the pleasure of hosting a stream of “Slithering” today for the record. Please find it on the player below and enjoy:
Snailking‘s Storm will be out Sept. 15 on Consouling Sounds and is available now to preorder in colored vinyl (black, blue and clear; 100 copies), black vinyl (200 copies) and CD. More info at the links.
This one’s a couple minutes shorter than the last few have been, but lacks nothing for substance, and particularly after YOB‘s “Marrow,” anything I put at the end would’ve just been filler to meet some imaginary obligation on my part. If you feel like you’re lacking the four minutes, give me a call and we’ll chat about records for the rest of that time. It’ll be a hoot. In any case, I think there’s plenty here to sink into — stuff that for a lot of people, myself included, will be on year-end lists and albums for which 2014 will be remembered when all is said and done. Two of my four current contenders for Album of the Year are featured, first and last.
Parts of this podcast are gorgeous, parts are ugly, but I think everything here holds up in terms of quality and listening back, I like the way this one gets immersive with a mix of longer tracks and shorter ones, slower and faster, etc. As always, I hope you enjoy, and I thank you sincerely for taking the time to check it out.
First Hour:
Lo-Pan, “Regulus” from Colossus (2014)
Steak, “Liquid Gold” from Slab City (2014)
The Well, “Mortal Bones” from Samsara (2014)
Orange Goblin, “The Devil’s Whip” from Back from the Abyss (2014)
Kvlthammer, “Hesh Trip” from Kvlthammer (2014)
Snailking, “To Wonder” from Storm (2014)
Earth, “From the Zodiacal Light” from Primitive and Deadly (2014)
Pallbearer, “Watcher in the Dark” from Foundations of Burden (2014)
Sorxe, “Her Majesty” from Surrounded by Shadows (2014)
Second Hour:
Humo del Cairo, “Tres” from Preludio EP (2014)
Joy, “Miles Away” from Under the Spell Of… (2014)
Megaton Leviathan, “Past 21” from Past 21: Beyond the Arctic Cell (2014)
Bong, “Blue at Noon” from Haikai No Ku – Ultra High Dimensionality LP (2014)
YOB, “Marrow” from Clearing the Path to Ascend (2014)
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 8th, 2014 by JJ Koczan
If you don’t immediately recall Swedish trio Snailking‘s three-song Consouling Sounds debut/demo from back in 2012, Samsara (review here), the prevailing impression was a YOB-style cosmic doom, psychedelic, heavy, exploratory and cohesive. It was an impressive first outing, and today the PR wire brings news of a follow-up. Storm, also to be issued through Consouling Sounds, is due out Sept. 15.
They’re streaming a new track, “Premonitions,” that you can hear below, and whether you’re familiar with their past offering or not, it’s worth checking out. Some of the Mike Scheidt-style riffing remains — that pull-back and lurch-forward approach with hints of melody snuck in — Snailking, who are named after Ufomammut‘s landmark 2004 album, distinguish themselves with multiple vocalists and through the smoothness with which they execute the build that comprises more than the second half of the song. The ending of “Premonitions” is also notable for its noisy drone that, it’s easy enough to imagine, serves as a direct tie to “Slithering,” which follows in the tracklisting given below. If Snailking are looking to present Storm as a whole work, that tells us something else about what we might expect from the new release. I’ll hope to find out if that’s how it goes.
Deference to the PR wire:
Sweden’s Snailking Announce New Album; Reveal Brand New Track
Swedish-based sludge/doom trio SNAILKING will release their debut full-length album “Storm” via Consouling Sounds on September 15th.
Take a listen to the first audio insight, the album’s second track “Premonitions” right here.
The five-song album features the artwork of Swedish artist Johan Leion (www.johanleion.com) and will be available on two different formats, a CD version featuring an extra track and a 12” LP version limited to 300 copies that also includes the CD. Pre-orders for “Storm” will be available soon at:http://consouling.be
Posted in On the Radar on July 26th, 2012 by JJ Koczan
If there’s one thing I like, it’s a band recommendation. Last week, I got put onto Black Black Black from Brooklyn, and this week it’s Snailking, from Sweden. The newly-formed trio (on Thee Facebooks here), who take their name from an Ufomammut record, are geared sonically in that direction as well. Their debut demo, Samsara, was self-released digitally at the end of June, but has already been picked up for a physical CD release on Consouling Sounds. One listen to the stream and it’s pretty easy to hear why.
Snailking make little bones about their YOB influence across these three tracks. In general, the riffing style of guitarist Pontus Ottosson reminds in some of its turns of early to mid-period YOB — whether it’s the opening of “Shelter” nodding at “Catharsis” or the closing of “Samsara” nodding at “The Mental Tyrant” — but invariably the dynamics are going to be somewhat different, and with bassist Frans Levin and drummer Karl Jonas Wijk, Snailking are just beginning to carve an identity within what will no doubt become a much more prevalent point of inspiration over the next several years. As far as that kind of thing goes, they’re still relatively early in arriving.
The three extended tracks on Samsara are more distinguished by Ottosson‘s vocals than the riffs, however. While the guitar keeps its Atma-styled jangle — albeit smoothly produced — through the majority of the demo’s 40 minutes, Neurosis-style shouting meets with a more melodic culmination on centerpiece “The Wake” — which, wow, sounds like YOB when those guitars kick in — and one can just quite get the sense that there could be more to Snailking than the derivations thus far presented. See if you can hear it on the player below, hoisted from their Bandcamp page. Either way, it’s thick space doom and a Swedish sample in there, so it’s not like you’ve got anything to lose:
Special thanks to Lisa Hass for the recommendation.
